In an example scenario, 8-bit ECC is used to protect data in a memory, e.g., a RAM, where each memory data byte is associated with a 5-bit single-error correcting and double-error detecting (SECDED) ECC word. Partial writes (or sub-word writes) of single byte (i.e., 8-bit) data can be performed without reading memory data from the memory, and ECC write of the single byte data can be achieved in a single clock cycle. However, the SECDED ECC word for 8-bit ECC has a silicon area overhead of 62.5%. In another example scenario, using ECC to protect words of 32 bits or more enable silicon area to be saved when compared to a similar methodology for 8-bit ECC, but it may take several clock cycles to complete. For example, data is read from a memory and the read data is executed with ECC check; then, partial writes with one or more bytes that are to be written are merged with the read data, the corresponding new ECC bits are computed, and the total data is written into the memory. In some example scenarios, however, the memory does not permit such combinational ECC computation during access to the memory.